[Boxscore] – [Toronto Reaction]
Fights. Fights. Fights. It took a 4-0 lead Toronto some goonery by two worthless hockey players late in the game, but we finally got the truculence we were hyped into believing would happen tonight. The game was over, but Jay Rosehill and Colton Orr got their pay back for Dan Carcillo‘s throat slash last week by jumping Ole-Kristian Tollefsen from behind and giving a cheap elbow to Mike Richards.
Oh, but the Flyers are goons. I’m sorry. Enjoy missing the playoffs for the next five years, d-bags.
On to hockey now. Despite the paper trail of evidence that said this game would be another Philadelphia win, the Toronto Maple Leafs walked all over the Flyers tonight at Air Canada Centre, winning 4-0.
It didn’t feel good from the start when Rosehill, the guy who was supposedly called up to beat the hell out of Dan Carcillo had apparently scored a goal on his first shift. After review, though, it was determined that Rosehill punched the puck into the goal. How typical.
Still, the Leafs continued to dictate the play in front of spectacular goaltending from Vesa Toskala. He made key saves at key times and continued his dominance of the Flyers. He’s now 5-1-1 against Philly in his career.
It appears that I may big a gigantic jinx. I talked pre-game about how bad Toskala was and the Flyers should put pucks behind him at will. That clearly didn’t happen. I also talked pre-game about the Leafs ‘top’ line, consisting of Phil Kessel, Tyler Bozak, and Nikolai Kulemin.
Well, Bozak absolutely undressed an over-matched Tollefsen and dipsy do’ed his way in to beat Michael Leighton for his first NHL goal. Then the trio broke into the Flyers zone and Kessel fed Kulemin for a beautiful goal on an odd-man rush.
The entire team just looked out of sync tonight. Let’s hope that’s only because Darroll Powe left half way through the game with a shoulder injury and Scott Hartnell missed the game with the flu. The offense was shaken up a bit and it may have caused some problems. At least that’s what we can hope for.
The Flyers didn’t play terribly but they just couldn’t get any pucks by Toskala. It happens. We can still hope for a few losses tonight by the Habs and Bruins. The Rangers have already lost in regulation, but that means the Senators jump a point ahead of us. Might we get Ray Emery on Sunday against Washington? We’ll see, but Leighton was left out to dry tonight on several odd-man rushes.
After the jump, questions with answers and the comment of the night.
Questions With Answers
- Do the Leafs attempt to get the Flyers off their game, and if so, are they successful in doing so? They didn’t goon it up until late when it didn’t really matter. They looked like a hockey team tonight, but uh, we all know they aren’t.
Does Vesa Toskala suck as much as Leafs fans say? Yes, but not tonight. Once a guy gets a little confidence it’s amazing what he can do with it, and Toskala certainly had that tonight.
How much ice time does Jay Rosehill see, and if Cote gets in how much ice time does he see? 9:01. Cote didn’t play, and good on Laviolette for not taking the bait and the pressure to play him.
Five minutes of ice time before Tollefsen re-injures himself. Over or under? Played the whole game. Shocking, right?
Comment of the Night
Wow. And WE’RE the goons?
TRUCULENCE!
